No sign of Ebola for CDC lab worker feared exposed weeks ago

MIKE STOBBE

Jan. 13, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say a federal laboratory technician who was possibly exposed to the Ebola virus did not get sick.

Ebola symptoms usually strike within three weeks of infection. Officials on Tuesday said the employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn't shown any symptoms since the incident Dec. 22.

Officials feared the technician may have been accidentally exposed when a small amount of live Ebola virus was moved into a CDC lab in Atlanta.

A CDC spokesman said a report on the incident is expected later this month.

The agency also is trying to hire someone to oversee laboratory science and safety. In separate incidents last year, CDC workers accidentally sent potentially dangerous anthrax and bird flu samples to labs lacking the proper safeguards to handle them.